<-' 'xf ^ 



L^> 



^^^ SLAVERY. 



ITS 



ORIGIN, INFLUENCE, AND DESTINY, 



HT 



TIIEOPIITLUS PARSONS. 



BOSTON: 

\V I I. L I A M CARTER AND BROTHER, 

r WATEK 8TRKET, AND 21 BROMFIELD 8TKEET. 

1 S G 3 . 





C!ass_^JE_i-53 



SLAVERY. 



II- 



ORIGIN, INFLUENCE, AND DESTINY. 



TIIEOPIIILUS PARSONS. 



\y. 



BOSTON: 

WI I.LI AM CAlllKR AND BKDTIIKIi, 

7 «Ari;K sruEET, and I'l )ti(i.tMi iKMi »Tiu:Kr. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the 5ear 18(53, 

By Theophilus Parsons, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 



BOSTON: 

ClIA,-^. H. CROSBY, PKIXTEK, 6 & 7 WATER JsTREET. 



^ 

M. 

H 
v 



S L A V E 11 Y 



TiiKRE are none who deny that slavery, in some way, 
and iu s(Jine sense, is the jirincipal cause of our civil 
war. For they who — ahroad or at home — allei^e that 
it is caused hy the actual and profound diversity between 
the two sections of tjje country as to their inti-rests, their 
habits, and their character, do not deny that this <liversity 
.«iprin;^s maiidy from the existence of slavery in one only 
of the parties. And they who account lor it by the auL^ry 
ami persistent vehemence of abolitionism, will not deny 
that if there were no shivery to Ik? abolisluMl there could 
be no abolitionism. It is not however worth while to 
use many words in proving a fact, which the map of our 
country demonstrates. 

IJiit if it be certain that slavery in S(»me way is the 
centnil cause of the civil war, it is by no means certain 
how, or why, this cause has prtnluced this etlect. If I 
otier for consideration the views I hold on this subject, 
it is be<-ause in this country public opini«»n is a soverei;zn 
power, and the Innublest etl'ort to intnMluce into this 
((pinion what seems to tb«^ offerer an element of Irutli, 
mav at least be pardoiieil. 

U'liat then is Slavery? Its f((undution is the jxtwer 
t»l" (•••ntrollin;r any man without his consent and ctmcur- 
rciH'c. The absolute ownershij) by one man of another 
man as it exists at the South, is only the |>crfection 
and consummation (»f this principle. There are coses 
where immaturity demands guidance, or crime deserves 
j>unislim«iil. Puitin;; these cases aside, wherever this 
principh' exists and operates, and in whatever degree it 
exists, there is that wlw<'h nuiy be called the essence of 
Slavi'vy. We are a<'custome<l to confine the name to 
absolute ownersliip. Nor lio I insist that the use of the 



4 SLAVERY. 

word slavery should be extended, if only I am understood 
as believing that this relation of man to man is but the 
completion of a relation which exists in a greater or a 
less degree when any man possesses the right to coerce 
another into labor for his benefit, without the consent of 
that other. 

It might seem that this is, in some sort, the condition 
of all men ; for even in this busy land, few work except- 
ing because they must. But, if we take an extreme 
case, it is one thing to be able to say to a man. Work for 
me on the terms which I offer, or starve, leaving it to him 
to starve if he chooses, and a very different thing, to have 
the right to say to him, Work for me on my terms or no 
terms, because I command you. These two things differ 
in essence ; they are as different, as non-slavery and 
slavery. The phrase in our Constitution, " held to labor," 
marks the distinction between one who is held to labor, 
and one who is persuaded or induced to labor. This 
phrase is, as it was intended to be, an exact definition of 
a slave. 

If it happens that these words present this idea to any 
reader for the first time, it may seem to him visionary, un- 
real, and unpractical. And certainly such an idea as that 
a legal right of thus compelling service is itself a wrong, 
scarcely existed upon earth until a few generations ago. 
If it existed in some minds, and was uttered by some 
voices, it had nowhere prevalence or recognition. And 
to-day it can hardly be said to have definite expression 
and acknowledged truth in the old world. All class-right 
is, to some extent, opposed to it ; and indeed is founded 
upon its opposite. And yet, history, if we permit it to 
throw the light of the past upon the present, may teach 
us that mankind in all its progress, has been constantly ad- 
vancing towards this end, towards the liberation of the hu- 
man mind from the thought, and of the human heart from 
the desire, of standing over a brother-man as his master and 
his owner. And a reason why that goodness which has 
ever led and watched the advancing footsteps of our race 
has guided them in this direction, is, that in proportion as 
the thought and desire of ruling over our brother pass 
away, they are replaced by the thought and the desire of 



SLAVERY. i> 

Standing by his side and working with liiin tor a common 
good. 

Let us oast a glance — a very brief and rapid glance — 
at tiie past. Beginning where history begins, we see 
nnfiualitied and unquestioned despotism ; now good and 
now evil, utterly diverse iu character and influence, but 
always unquestioned, and unimpeded. This was and is 
the (Jriental idea of government ; Gibbon remarks that 
Eastern languages have no words to express any other 
mode of goveriuncnt. At length Greece arose, and un<ler 
the leading of Alexander, conquered. It was the con- 
cpiest of KurojMi over Asia ; of a European way of think- 
in;! over Oriental thought ; it was a sti'p away from the 
Oriental idea that despotism was the only cognizable form 
of govermnent. 

In (Jreece and Homo, whatever were the abuses of 
certain ages, there was alwjiys the preteijee, and oHen the 
|-eality of governing by law. And then the feudal system 
ad\anced so far as to give every nuin his place. For it 
gave to every man his riglits, such a.«< they were, and to 
no nuin the right of abs<irbing all other rights into his 
own. Tiio feudal system had serfs, but not slaves. 

The feudal system gri'W, flourished, decayed, ami is 
passing away. A sl«'p further forward was jM)ssible ; 
Jiut not |)OHsible in Europe. Ages whieh had greatly 
varied tlie institutions of feudalism, had indurated them 
an<l the systeui of lliou;.'ht and feeling adapte<I to them; 
and ehttiied them all with steel, nu»re impenetrable than 
the mail her warrinr-i onee wore. Not in Eur<»pe e<)uM 
tlie next step l>e taken, — and America was discoven-d. 
An<l in or near the same age came the great diseov«'ry 
of gunpowder, wliicli has made it imj)ossible tliat tin; 
scenes Eroissart so loves to paint, where a few mailed 
knights routed and slaughtere<l at their pleasure mobs of 
pea.santry, sh«)uld ever be repcatctl. And tiie compass 
which led Columbus to America was given as the means 
of a commerce which has already begmi its work of 
binding the luitions into unity. And the press was given, 
to give wings to thought. And all these discoveries 
were gifts of the same g(»o<lness and were given for the 
same end, as that for whic.li America wiw discovered and 
1* 



b SLAVERY. 

peopled. This end was — to express it in the fewest 
words — that consent might take the place of compulsion^ 
in all the ranks and regions and work of human society. 

To this end this nation was planted in the home made 
ready for it ; fostered until it was ready to live in 
independence, and then gifted with independence. It 
was ready for nationality, and became a nation. And 
then came the gi'eat American Invention, — greater in 
worth, in wisdom, and in its beneficent influence over the 
whole future, than all those I have above enumerated ; 
the invention of a Constitution. 

The word is not a new one. It was applied to political 
institutions before we used it, and is now so applied else- 
where. But, in its American sense, and in its purpose 
and its work, a Constitution had no existence, until it 
was called into being for our needs, and our good ; called 
into being by the progress of humanity, and for that 
progress. 

It would of course be difficult, or rather, impossible, to 
give here a full exposition of the grounds on which an opin- 
ion rests, that may seem to many, extravagant. This will 
not be attempted. But some illustration of it may be 
derived from a comparison between the national feeling 
in this country, and that in Europe, on one point ; it is, 
the loyalty of the nation. 

There are those who think this word rightly used in 
Europe, with an exact and definite sense ; but that here it 
can only be used in a kind of figurative or rhetorical sense. 
I think otherwise. Loyalty is everywhere a supreme 
political virtue ; if it can have no existence here, we are 
most unfortunate. If there be only one form of go\ern- 
ment in which it can exist, the sooner that form of 
government becomes ours, the better for us and for our 
children. 

The Avord loyal is the English form of the latin legalis. 
The feudal vassal, of every rank, was sworn to be fidelis 
et legalis, or faithful and loyal, to his superior. Legalis 
is the adjective form of the substantive, lex, law. The 
oath then was that he woidd in good faith acknowledge 
and defend all the rights which the law gave to his 
superior, apd obey all the commands which the law 
authorized. 



SLAVERY. < 

This is the orig-inal iMea, or tlio abstract idea, of loyahy. 
It perhaps never entered into the minds of the masses, 
and at all events it soon took the form of personal 
loyalty. Nor is it difficult to see how this occurred and 
why it was well that it should occur. 

The worst thing which can befall a man is to be 
delivered up to the unchecked dominion of his own self- 
hood, before that self-hood is raised and regenerated into 
the perception and the love of kioht. '' Lord of himself, 
a heritage of woe," he cannot then but abuse the mastery 
he possesses, to his own destruction. But when he is 
j)r('[)are<l voluntarily to submit himself to the law of 
right, and lets this law ripen into a love for his neigh- 
bor and his neighbor's rights, then a relief from exter- 
nal C(>mpulsion is the best thing which can happi-n. 
Therefore, that Divine Providence, which by the neces- 
sity of an infinite goo<lness seeks always the higlu'st 
good, is ever watchful to advance as far as nuiy be the 
preparation of man for this gift, an<l to give it as he is 
prepared, and to withhold it in tin* degree in whicii he is 
not prejiarcd. IJetween (iod and man, as between man 
an<l man, consent is better than roMi'ii-SioN, an<l all 
progress is from compulsicm to consent. 

l$ut the chihl is ne<'essarily subject to coercion, 1)cchusc 
necessarily immature, and unready for self-control. Antl in 
the earliest nations wjjich hi>tory tells us of, in the childiiood 
of man, this inunalurity was universal, and so comj)lete 
tlial iniiversal desj)otism was necessary, and jM-rmitted. As 
the nec«'ssity grew less, despotism was mtwlified ; but in 
the ohl world, we have no evidence yet, that the people ari^ 
prepared for a safe <leliverance from a controlling jM)wer. 
Tlie time nuiy come, jMtssibly it may be near, bnt it has 
not come yet. The common phrase '* King, by the grace 
of (iod," is not without its meaning and its trntlj. It is 
of the grace, or mercy of (iotl, that kings aw gi\en to 
those who need kings. 

We see the mastery of the father o\er the chihl, made 
tender and usefid by the parental love which the Father 
of us all awakens in all at the birth of the child. And 
so where it is necessary fi>r a people to have a king, or per- 
sonal sovereign, governing in his own right, it is as ueces- 



8 SLAVERY. 

sary and useful that there exist among the people a strong 
sense of personal loyalty. And it exists in Europe. 
Weakened certainly, passing away possibly, but it has 
not yet passed away. 

And to what can we be loyal ? Let me ask another 
question, to what are they in England — to take England 
for our illustration — to what are they loyal ? To their 
Queen. No one who has been there, or has listened to 
the description of what they saw and heard who have 
been there, can doubt that there is — not everywhere — but 
in vast masses of the English people, an intense feeling of 
loyalty to their Queen. A loyalty which would stir their 
hearts to their depths and arm their hands with every 
weapon they could grasp in her defence. And what is 
their Queen ? A symbol and a personification of all law- 
ful authority. In the theory of their law, she is its 
source ; the judges of the law are her representatives, the 
ministers of the law her servants. She is their personal 
sovereign ; and she impersonates the sovereignty of tlie 
state ; the preservation of all order ; and the protection of 
all property, all industry, all prosperity. 

I do not suppose that in all men's minds there is a de- 
finite intellectual apprehension of this fact, or that such 
ideas are recognized by them as the foundation of their 
loyalty. But in many minds these ideas exist, and in 
more hearts this feeling would have power. Let there be 
a threat to-morrow of an uprising which should shatter 
the throne, and multitudes of the English — great multi- 
tudes — I know not how many, I do not even assert, 
although I believe a great majority of the English, would 
feel that if the throne went down, revolution, convulsion, 
conflict and distress would fill the land. For they would 
feel that if the throne went down, there would go down 
with it, for them, the foundation of all law, and all se- 
curity for order or for property. 

But what have we to be loyal to ? No personal sover- 
eign, reigning in his own right. What then have we ? 

When our fathers bent to the work of giving form and 
order to our nationality, they did not begin with the ap- 
pointment of a personal sovereign ; but with something 
very different. They selected those whom they thought 



SLAVERY. y 

their bc«t and wisest, and onmniisisioned them to ronfor 
to;;et]ier and discover tlu' fundameutal liLdits for which all 
law exists, and which underlie and sn>tain and promote 
all social good ; and the principles from which these 
riglits forever flow. And then to devise the best forms 
and rules for a government which should forever acknowl- 
edge an<l secure these riidits by a constant observance of 
these princi|^4es. And the fabric in which all this is con- 
taincil and exj)ressed and defined, they called a Constitu- 
tion. Tlicre it storxl, the child of their own will. 
Embodying the best wisdom they had ; and resting on the 
consent of all. There it strxxl, aiicl thank rio<l there it 
stan«ls. And this substitution of a written Constitution, 
so created, ami so founded, is, in my nmst profound belief, 
the greatest political st»'j) ever yet taken in luuuan pn»- 
gress, and a step which He who loves us inlinitely will 
never permit to be retracted. 

W*! live in the beginrnng of an age, of whi<h the 
characteristic, politically, will be <-onstitutional n'jtubli<'au 
government. We are (n\\y at its beginning: and already 
discern (pieslicuis we ku(»w not how to solve, difliculties we 
know not how to meet, misciiiefj* we know not how to 
prevent. More, very many more, will come up as time 
rolls on. Hilt this age, like every other of those in his- 
tory, will gradually — perhaps slowly and thn»ugh much 
error and misfortiun' — develop itself into the forms best 
adapted for the fullest operntitMi of its dominant principle. 
And that principle is and will renuiin, the substitution oi 
Consent for Compul>ion. 

Let me gj) back again to England for a moment. L«'t 
us compare Kngli>h loyalty with (»ur own. as to its grounds 
and its reasonableness. They are loyal to their sover- 
eign. Victoria, as cjueen, as mother, and as uuitron, 
commanils the respect of all in Amerii-a. When her son 
was here, nothing struck me m(»re, and I may say nothing 
touchcil me more, than the way in which that feeling was 
expressed. It set-med as if we lelt that the excellence of 
English malronliood sat, in lu-r person, on the throne of 
England. Not a word wouhl I say, not a feeling have I 
which w«tuld suggest n word in derogation of this a<'- 
knowle(l;:ment. Hut she nuist <lie. Her sou, whatever 



10 SLAVERY. 

may be hoped of liira, has as yet only given a promise of 
excellence. He too must die. And the lives of his suc- 
cessors must be subject to vicissitudes, of which history, 
and none more plainly than the History of England, tells 
the sad tale. When Victoria's uncle, George IV., sat 
on the throne, the loyalty of England was shocked, and 
almost killed, by his w^ickedness, and selfishness, and the 
unconcealed foulness of his life and character. When 
such another sits there, that loyalty may have a deeper, 
even a fatal wound. To such chances and such perils 
the personal loyalty of England must submit. 

And through all these ages — if we do not prove un- 
worthy of so great a blessing — will stand our Constitution. 
Not, as some in Europe w^ho speak of it suppose, because it 
is fixed and crystallized into forms which may be broken 
but cannot change. The exact opposite of this is the 
truth. It is a living organism. It invites and provides 
for change. It desires all changes, in all time, which 
shall make it ever more able to perform its gi'eat func- 
tions. But it carefully provides that these changes shall 
come only as a common demand, shall be matured by a 
common deliberation, and rest on a common consent ; 
common, not universal, for that it is too Avise to demand. 

That it must be far easier to be loyal when the object of 
our loyalty is a person, is certain. It must be a great re- 
lief to the human mind, in a certain condition, to have 
those principles of order, law, and right, to which 
loyalty is due, impersonated in one who can be recognized 
and approached. But the providence of God, as it is 
manifested in the progress of humanity, seeks to lift the 
human mind above the condition in which it requires this 
relief, this assistance. And the great question for us this 
day, is, whether the American mind and character are 
lifted to the height of our own institutions. If not, we 
need, and if we need we shall have, a king. 

The very foundation of our existence as a nation is 
mutual desire, common consent. It has been too little 
noticed, that this nation stands alone on earth in one 
characteristic. What other great nation exists, or ever 
has existed, from the days of Nimrod the hunter of men, 
to this day, which did not acquire its growlli and more or 



SLAVERY. 11 

less of its dominion, by conquest, by compulsion ? Various 
have been the forms and modes of this compulsion ; but, 
in some form, it has existed everywhere. Our nation 
alone was formed without one atom of this element. 
And if Texas and California seem to have been added by 
conquest, it was perhaps the introduction of a new ele- 
ment ; and it was, at all events, the conquest of tlie land 
only, and not of the people ; and when the sparse popula- 
tion we found there grew into a sulhcieut magnitude, it 
was at their own request that they were admitted to an 
equal share of all our rights, all our advantages, all our 
sovereignty. The idea of conquest and sulijugation seems 
to me utterly foreign to the nature and working and life 
of our political institutions. 

lint it may be asked how can we compel the rebels 
to return witliin tlie Union, without conrpu'st and subjuga- 
tion. AVliat right have we to cim,j<»l tljcm at all, if the 
very essential characteristic of our institutions is consent, 
instead of compulsion. 

Before a government can be carried f»n uj)on the prin- 
ciple of consent, it must be clearly and practically 
understood, that consent is perfectly consistent with ro/i- 
trart^ an<l the <»bligations springing from contract. 

As I have already said, I believe an immense step was 
t{ikcn in the progress of our race, by the establishment of 
our nationality, furausc this uatioiuility is founded u|)on 
the principle of musfut, and aill fmr in>titutinns ami laws 
and usages must rest upon consent, 

I now say, that consent moans nothing until something 
is consented to ; or, in other words, something is agreed 
ui)on ; or, again, consent comes into effect and a<'tual 
existence, when there are agreenients, made by and 
between consenting parties ; made with their consent 
and concurrence. An«l then a nationality founde<l u|K)n 
consent, nuist have as its very essence, the right and the 
power of enforcing agreements, or c«»ntracts, made by the 
consent of the parties. 

For example. No man in Ma>.-achusettii is obliged to 
buy or to sell anything excepting at his own pleasure an<l 
by his own free choice. But if he c<nisnifs to buy or to 
sell, and makes an agreement l<j that eti'ect, then he is 



12 SLAVERY. 

held absolutely, and if need be coercively, to his obliga- 
tion ; that is, to deliver what he sells when he is paid, or 
to pay for what he buys. 

It must be perfectly obvious, that national institutions 
cannot be founded upon and characterized by the principle 
of consent, unless it is a part of that principle, embodied 
in the consent of the whole nation, that when consent 
ripens into contract^ there shall exist the right, the power 
and the duty of enforcing the contract-obligation. 

We apply and test this principle continually, in the 
smaller matters of every-day occurrence. We are now 
testing the same principle on the largest scale. 

All the States, and all the persons in every State, have 
agreed to our national existence and our national insti- 
tutions. No matter whether they have formally expressed 
their consent, by oath, or voting, or otherwise. They 
have lived under them ; profited by them ; received their 
share of the good derived from them. And common 
sense as well as common law holds them to be estopped 
from denying their consent ; their contract. 

Rebellion is the last and most consummate violation of 
contract-obligation. It is the violation by force of the 
contract which is the foundation on which our nationality 
rests, and therefore upon which all order, all society, all 
contract-obligation rests. And therefore it is a violation 
of contract against which the whole force of the nation 
should be thrown, with a concentration of all its might, 
aCid with unfaltering energy, and unrelenting determina- 
tion. 
? But conquest and subjugation do not enter into my idea 
of 'either our right or our duty; for this plain reason. We 
fight only against rebellion ; against the rebels only be- 
cause they are and as they are rebels. And as soon as 
the rebellion is suppressed, as soon as they cease to be 
rebels, they return again within the Constitution ; within 
its obligations, within its penalties for whatever crimes 
they have comniitted, but also within its protection. 

To regard them not as rebels, but as enemies in the 
same sense in which strangers at war with us would be 
our enemies, is to declare that rebellion has succeeded ; 
has done its work ; has separated them from us. 



SLAVERY. 13 

it" consent was tlie foinulatiou of our natiouality, so it 
>va.s of tlie Constitution wliicli drives to it iorm and det'ui- 
tion. The very lieurt and essence of this constitution, as 
of every State Constitution, is, that it is the voluntary 
work of all, the expression of tlie common will, resting 
upon common consent ; and so terminating in a common 
contract, an<l a common obligation. 

The heart and essence of all constitutional republicanism 
is Consent. The heart and essence of all slavery is 
CoMi'Ui.sioN. History does not exhibit, and the mind of 
nwm cannot conceive, a more absolute political antagonism, 
than that between constitutional republican government, 
and slavery. Hence this war. For this war is nothing 
else than tliis antagonism, uttering its voice, casting otV its 
disguise, taking uj) all the weapons of conflict, and seeking 
success by FoiujE. The war, with all its fury, its slaugh- 
l«r, its hatred, and its sacrilice, is but a revehiti<Mi of the 
war, eternally existing, between the two principles of 
Freedom and Slavery. 

Ami yet our national const imt ion recognizes and pro- 
tects sla\ery. It does so ; and it was nuule to do so Ibr a 
-ullicient reason. When our fathers fnimed it, they 
louiid slavery not otdy existing, but universally ditfused ; 
-tronger in some places than in others, but wh(dly ab>ent 
ahnosl n<»where. Tiuy tbuud als«), that wherever sla\ery 
existed, there c<>-e\isted with it, some knowle<lge (»f its 
( haracter. ami something (»f the fear and of the dislike 
I hat character should inspire. Three courses, and only 
ihree, were ojien to them. To aiuuidon tin' pur|K»se of a 
union of the whole. Tt» violate the iundameutal principle 
of consent, and try what could be done by compid. ion. 
To accept the fact of shiNery as it stood with all its con- 
eoniitauts, imd its pn.bable futine, with the h<»pe that 
tnitii would gradually jirevail over falsehood, gotid over 
e\il, and iVeeilom over >lavery. They chose the last of 
these alternatives, and they chohe wisely and well. 

At that time a ««intlict between Ireedoni anil slavery in 
this country W(»uld n<»t ha\e been safe; it would not have 
>-o residted as to |iromote the pn)g^ri'ss ot" man towards 
Ireedonj. Not only was slavery, technically so-called, 
nearly univer.-Nul in some ilegree, Inil the great principle, 



14 SLAVERY. 

SO lately born among men, that it was not well for any 
man to have the right of compelling another to act with- 
out his own concurrence, was dimly seen and feebly felt. 
And therefore the kind and measure of pro-slavery which 
claims and loves this right, would have been found potent 
everywhere, and all its sympathies would have been, as 
they are now and ever must be, with that consummated 
slavery which deems it well for a man to own a man. 
The conflict would not then have been safe. Our fathers 
did well and wisely in not exciting it. They left it for a 
future day. It has come in our day. The way in which 
it has come is this. 

As the years passed on, slavery, from causes all of 
which are not obvious, gradually Avithdrew from a large 
part of the country, and gradually became concentrated in 
another part ; and thus slavery and non-slavery became to 
a great degree separated and distinguished from each 
other. 

In that part of the country where slavery was concen- 
trated, it flourished. It produced an apparent prosperity, 
in which the slaves had little share, and the mass of poor 
whites round them even less, while it made the few slave- 
owners rich in idleness. But while it impoverished and 
degraded the poor whites, it fed and gratified their pride 
that even in their degradation they could look down with 
utter contempt upon a numerous class below them. And 
this false and foolish pride kept up in their minds a com- 
parison of their condition as freemen with that of the 
slaves, and they did not know their degradation ; and they 
learned to love slavery, as well as the rich men who were 
masters of the slaves without disguise, and masters of the 
poor whites under a thin disguise. 

The consequence of this was inevitable. That region 
became a slave region completely and thoroughly. Not 
only was nearly all its wealth slave-wealth, but in about 
the same proportion its opinion became a slave-opinion ; 
its belief a slave-belief ; its reason a slave-reason ; its 
conscience a slave-conscience ; its religion a slave-religion. 
Not universally, but prevailingly. And its policy, — for 
in this the majority ruled, — became an absolute, unquali- 
fied, slave-policy. 



SLAVERY. 1 5 

And ill tlit^ moaniiine hou' tared it with the reirion from 
which shivery h.'ul witlulrawii ? Tliat rei^ion also flour- 
islied ; and while its j)rosperity outran anything in hu- 
man experience and astonished tiie world, it was as re- 
niarkahle for its diffusion as for its amount. It was the 
result of tlio co-oj>erati(jn of all, concurrinir in labor of all 
kinds, hut all resulting in a common good, of which all 
had their share, and nearly all a share proportionate to 
their industry and intelligence. 

With this there g^rcw up, and into great strength, a 
feeling and belief that this marvellous prosperity was due 
to our nationality, which alone couM give it safety and 
permanence, and to the principles of hunnm rights which 
our Constitution expressed and protected. Tlie great 
marts of commerce felt that they nuist decay with our 
national decay. The owners of and the workers in the 
mills to which our rusliing streams are harnessed, knew 
as well as if the sun-light wrote it on their walls, that 
only in tin; prescrvati<»n of our nationality could ihcy 
prosper. The men who j>loughe<l and planted ami reaped 
those wide Western field** which could frt-d a W(»rld, fill 
that thi-y could work in peace, and fnnl weallli in the pro- 
duct of their labors, only on condition that our nationality 
was pn's»'rve<l. 

In all this tlure was alloy enough of selfishness. But 
through it all, there also grew into strength, and into 
luibitual and common thought, the notion (hat every man 
owned himself, and had a right to employ liimself only 
with his own consent, however hanl might he the terms 
to which he chose to consent: an«l that constitutional re- 
publi<anism wjis founded on this principle. 

It is this thought which underlies all the true democ- 
racy of this country. It may have in the minds o|" the 
masses but little precision ot logical definition ; it mav 
be quite too iiincli allied with and degraded by .sel- 
fishness; audit often expresses its«df with great coarse- 
ness <»f word and act. lint there it is, right in itself, and 
a sentiment of great power. Hecause it has this power, 
there has gn»wn np with it a fal-e democracy, whicii d**- 
sires to c«)nfound ilself with the true <lem(K'ra<'V, that it 
may use it as a tool : and it acipiires the use of it by fal>e 



16 SLAVERY. 

pretences. This false democracy asserts vociferously a 
sympathy with the true democracy, when in fact it is in 
exact opposition to it ; because its whole aim is to use men 
without their actual consent ; and as this can no longer be 
done by violence, it is done by fraud and falsehood. 

I have attempted a very general sketch of the con- 
dition and sentiment of the two great regions of this 
country, the slave region, and the non-slave region. And 
when the greater growth of the non-slave element Avarned 
the slave element that it was on the way to death, slowly 
and lingeringly perhaps, but inevitably, the slave element 
rushed into a conflict which it hoped would end in a vic- 
tory that would give it permanent poAver and therefore 
permanent existence. And it may do this, unless the 
conflict ends, not in the victory, but in the defeat of 
slavery. I do not say its destruction, but its defeat. And 
if it so ends, whatever form this defeat puts on, the death 
of slavery is made more certain and brought more near. 
Which of these results is impending ; the victory or the 
defeat of Slavery ; the success or the suppression of Re- 
bellion ? 

This must depend on the relative strength of the par- 
ties ; not merely the strength which each party possesses, 
but the strength which each party brings into the conflict. 
And one important measure of this strength, is the unity 
of each party. 

The slave party was far from being unanimous at the 
outset. The cautious and skilful measures adopted by 
the leaders of the rebellion to bring their States into the 
attitude of rebellion without a popular vote on the ques- 
tion, is, of itself, a suflicient proof of this. Their earnest 
and successful endeavors " to fire the Southern heart,'* 
showed that they thought it needed to be fired ; and none 
could judge of this so well as they could. Undoubtedly 
there was much lingering attachment to the Union ; much 
fear for the possible consequences of war and for its in- 
evitable suffering and sacrifice ; and some doubt whether 
slavery was a good thing to fight for. But the Southern 
heart has been fired. The voice of opposition has been 
silenced, and wherever necessary strangled with a rope. 
And while the terrible distress, and enormous sacrifice, 



SLAVERY. 17 

and extreme exhaustion whicli have attended the rebellion 
must have produced much effect, it may still be said, that 
so far as we can judge trom trust-wortliy testimony, there 
h now a very great degree of unity at tlie SoiUh. 

The guns of Sumter tired the Northern heart at once. 
There was a wonderful uprising of the whole people. 
Even tlie false democracy saw instantly (and tliey are not 
usually mistaken on sucli points) that they shouhl lose all 
hold of the true democracy, if they did not join, with seem- 
ing heartiness at least, in the defen<-c of «iur nationality. 

This uprising, in its unanimity, its earnestness, and the 
proofs it gave of its reality, surprised ourselves, a-stonished 
Kuro|)e, and most of all ama/.eil and di-aj)poiuti'«l the 
rebels. JJecausc the slav*' influence ha<l made the min«l 
of that region a slave-mind, they could n<>t, they cannot 
now, and they never will compreheutl it. 15ut the fact 
was patent, and to them fearful. Hut time went on, and 
old dillereiices revived, and new ones came up. Ditferent 
iiili-rests and ditl'ereut regions began to look at each other 
with watchfulness, |M-rhaps with jealousy and di-<trust. 
All oj)iiiion fmds expression lu-re, and is conlirnud by ex- 
prtission ; for here there can be no reign of terror. Men 
gri!W angry; and as an atigry man is necessarily miwise, 
unwise notions, un-<»und ariruments, and mi-taken con- 
clusions llew through tlie <-»»nnnuuity. 

Looking jit the niatt»*r from some points of view, it might 
seem as if the war had slrenLMlieiied the unity of the re- 
bellion, and wiakeneil that of the resistance t«» it. I'.ut I 
am not s\ire that it is so. 

There are many sources of error on tlii>< point. Tliu-;, 
it is extrenudy dillicnlt to know what portion of the 
seeming disallection is nothing more than a mere discovery of 
the <lisaHection existing at the begimiing, but thi-n con- 
cealed, or at li'ast not i-xpressed. Then again we mav be 
«leceived by the loud and universal faiidt-jiiidini:. which has 
reached an excess that wonid be ludicrous, if it were not 
dangerous. Hut it may not be so dangerous as it seems. 
Of course no one can hope for a general remmciation of 
the cheap and easy jileasure of fault-tinding. lie who lin<ls 
fault with another, generally a>^serts by implication his own 
belief (an unconscious one perhaj)s) of his superiority, of 



18 SLAVERY. 

his freedom from that which he rebukes. He judges, he 
condemns, he looks from above, down. And where is the 
human being to whom this is not grateful? No. We 
may hope for money, for effort, toil, and courage to face 
any peril. But we must not hope for so enormous a sacrifice 
as the voluntary relinquishment of fault-finding. Of course 
it does harm ; but it may also do some good ; possibly 
in the rebuke of some actual wrong, or the correction of 
some actual mistake, or in the fact that it keeps us awake 
and alive to existing exigencies. 

But whatever uncertain good this reckless fault-finding 
may do, it works one great and certain mischief in the 
despondency which it produces and diffuses. 

Despondency is always the effect of weakness, and 
always increases weakness. Therefore it is never wise. 
And in times like these it is most mischievous, most dan- 
gerous. A very profound thinker has said, '^ There is 
nothing I fear so much as Fear." This saying, Avise for 
most times, is, for us in these times, brimful of wisdom. 
The army of the people should be what military men call 
" the supporting force" of the army we have sent to the 
front. And a panic in the one array may be as fatal as a 
panic in the other. 

We may be prudent and cautious ; neither unduly 
elated nor depressed ; moderate in our expectations ; and 
yet rational, firm and hopeful. 

He who has given all the money he can spare, and sent 
his sons to battle, while his wife and daughters toil for the 
comfort and health of the soldiers, has yet one more duty 
to perform, which, to some tempers, is the most difficult 
of all. It is, to repel Despondency from his own mind, 
and protect all Avhom he can from this moral palsy. Not 
more certain is it that red-handed Treason has brought us 
to this pass, than that, among the loyal, Despondency is 
the servant of Treason, doing its work where no thought of 
treason could gain admittance. Much of this work has 
been done ; but I am sure, for all the moaning and 
groaning which echoes around us, that the heart of New 
England still beats with strong and steady pulse. 

And then it must be remembered, that the differences 
exhibited among us, are to an immense extent, differences 



SLAVERY. 1 

as to tlie means and not differences as to the end. Belilnd 
nearly all of them, and urging them on, is the determination 
that the country must be saved. It is easy to mistake in 
this matter. Thus, recent elections have given the oppo 
sition a majority in some large States. But the most potent 
''cry" employed by the victors was against the government 
for its lack of energy in the prosecution of the war. And 
yet a political victory, gained by the expression of a 
vehement desire that the war should be urged with the 
utmost energy, and by a passionate appeal to this ruling 
desire of the p«'f>ple, is regarded by sonu'. and made use of 
by some, at home and abroad, as evi«lc'nre that this very 
«hsire is fi-eble and dying out ! Some even of the leaders 
who won this victory in this way would have it mean ''erring 
sisters go in j)ea(e." IJut our erring sisters understand 
these matters l)etter than some of us d<i ; they are not de- 
ceived, il' we are. 

The most fervent l<»yally, the most elevated jiatriot- 
ism, are so fortified on this point by every motive of 
interest, of selfishness, and mere expeilieney, that I can- 
not doubt tlu'ir «dtimate success. In the loyal State* 
tlnMe is an infmite diversity of interests, sentiments, 
habits, motives and opinions. And this diversity is one 
of degrei- as well as of kind. N<»t oidy is there loyalty 
of the l<»ftiest and piire-t <banicier, an<l also the most 
mnuiti;jated s«'lti-hne>««, but there is loyalty in every de- 
gri'C, from tJM' highest to the lowest, and selfishness of 
e\ery d«'gree from the lowest upwanls. And then* is an 
(Mjual divi-rsily <»f «»pinion as to the principles upon which the 
conflict is to be ur;.'e<l, and as Ut the means to be used in 
the suppression of the rebellion, and as to the way in which 
those n>eaus siiould be emjiloyi'd. All this diversity is 
doubtless a distin-bing and retarding force. It must make 
the struggle h»nger ami more ilitlicull, anil our success less 
perfi'ct. Hut, will it defeat the struggle, will it prevent 
our success ? I think not. I believe we shall succeed. 

Hut, wiiat do I mean by success? f)r, what success is it 
that I look for? On the one side (»f this conflict is slavery ; 
an«l with it disru|)lion of the I'nion, and rebelli<»n against 
the C'tinstitution. Ibu \\\rM* three are one, and that one 
is IJebelliuii. On tiu" olIuT side are time ihinLT'^ alx). 



20 SLAVERY. 

One of these is the opposition to slavery ; another, the 
determination to save our nationality; the third, loyalty to 
the Constitution. And these three things are also one, and 
that one is the suppression of Rebellion. To many minds 
these three things seem to be distinct, and they have indeed 
assumed, to some extent, an attitude of antagonism to each 
other. But, to my mind, they are as closely connected, as 
indissolubly one in their nature and their influence, as are 
the three elements of the rebellion. And, thei'efore, as 
rebellion is the one thing in which its three elements are 
waging war against us, so a suppression of the rebellion is 
the one thing in which the elements of our resistance 
should combine. That should be the constant end ; and 
all other things regarded only as the means to this end. Let 
me try to show how the three elements of our resistance to 
rebellion are one. 

The preservation of our nationality will be necessarily, 
at some time and in some way, the death of slavery. For 
the heart and essence of our national existence is the prin- 
ciple of freedom. This principle has grown in develop- 
ment and strength beyond the principle of slavery, not by 
any accident, but because it could not be otherwise in a 
nation founded as ours was, and characterized and circum- 
stanced as ours has been, and is, and must continue to be 
as long as we are one nation. The South felt this. The 
Southern mind has become essentially a slave-mind. 
Many persons there are probably unable to form a con- 
ception of nationality or civilization Avithout slavery ; and 
some have avowed this. Their hatred of the " accursed 
Yankees " is only an expression of the love of slavery ; Yan- 
keeism being with them an impersonation of non-slavery. 
They saw plainly, or they felt instinctively, tliat slavery 
would perish if our nationality should continue. The 
death of slavery seems to them their own death. They 
are fighting for life. They are fighting to destroy our 
nationality, because if our nationality lives, slavery must 
die. In all this they are not mistaken. The only strange 
thing is, that we do not see this as plainly as they do. 

Then, as to our Constitution. If we continue to be a 
nation, we must have, as I think, inevitably, a constitu- 
tional republican government ; and between such a con- 



SLAVnRY. 21 

stitmi'MKil frovernmeiit ami slavery, there must be, for- 
ever and inevitably, anta;ronisni. And this is what I 
mean, when I say, that the three elements of our resist- 
ance to tlie rebellion, opposition to shivery, determination 
ti) preserve our nationality, and loyalty to the Constitution, 
are in their nature and essence. One. 

Shall we preserve our nationality ? I can only sav, 
there seem to me reasons wliy we should, and influences 
leadinL' to that result, of such irresistilde wei;:lit and f.»rce 
tliat I do not believe they can fail. A;:ainst them all comes 
the disru|)tinji[ force of slavery. And while I write there arc 
j«'alousie-*, intrigues, outcries, threateninjr to separate the 
West iroin the Kast ; tiiey arc stron;rly reinforced by some- 
thin;.' which calls itself, and may l>elievc itself a defence 
of the Constitution ; and the whole is used ener;retically 
by the dema;ro;ruism, which w<ndd sacrifice everythin<4 
that came betwi;en it and its prey. IJut I do not ;ri*eatly 
fear such thinirs. The poNViT (»f evil can <lo much, but 
there are barriers it cann«»t pass. I believe that if the 
Mississipjji were oju-n to-<lay, and the I'^istern Atlantic 
closed a;rainst the West, they would fi;rht as desperatelv to 
n-opcn it as they are fi;:htin;^ now to reiipeu the .Missis- 
sipjii. They nee<l lH)th ; no matter whi«'li they need 
m(»st ; they need both absolutidy. 

l>ul shall we pn-ser\e «»ur present Constitution as it j'.s ,' 
In my iud;;m«'nt, that Constitution has not yet been vio- 
latetl, in any way f»r to any extent, ;^eater or less. But 
there are those who think otherwise. There are some 
who are very an;.^^ about this ; or who express a ;,'reat 
deal of <'lo(|uenl an;^er, in ho|>cs to excite s»>me an;zer 
amoni; those who hear or read them. I do not sav they 
do not believe what they say. There are jn-rsons, not 
uidVe(pn'ntly met with, wh(», when they want to say a 
thiiiL,' stron;_dy, be;;in with makiii;: themselves believe it. 
With some mimls this is an easy process, autl a usefid 
one ; for it enables them to ;;ive to what they sav tin; 
earnestness, and f«»rce, and intluiMiee of honesty — of hon- 
esty of a certain kin«l. It may not 1h' very wisi- in 
me. or in any one, to con:»'mj»late n-moti* and ima^rinable 
|>erils, whi«'h, if they an* not mert- follies, are oidy not 
impossibilities. I do not bi li(\e that the various elements 



22 SLAVERY. 

of opposition to the government, and of friendsliip for the 
rebels can so coalesce and inflame each other, as to make 
it necessary for the government to sacrifice our nationality 
or sacrifice onr Constitution ; but, if this choice must be 
made, then, with as much love and reverence for the Con- 
stitution as my nature is capable of, I should still say, 
our nationality must not be lost, and rebellion must not 
prevail. 

The Senate has been recently agitated by a case, 
where a man supposed to be an active sympathizer with 
the rebels, was arrested and imprisoned. The Presi- 
dent and Commander-in-Chief in this war upon the 
very life and being of the country, had suspended the 
Habeas Corpus, and imprisoned him. Then the man 
utterly denied his sympathy, or at all events his active 
sympathy with the rebels. And thereupon the President 
(always through his agents) oflfered to release him at once, 
if only he would take the oath of allegiance to the 
United States. And he would not ; and remained under 
arrest. Now I wish to repeat most emphatically, that 
there was not, in my judgment, any violation of the Con- 
stitution here, of any kind or any degree whatever. But 
if there was any violation whatever, I am sure it Avas 
not a substantial violation. I am willing to say farther, 
that if I must choose between that defence of the Consti- 
tution which holds it always on the hand and uses it as a 
tool, and has it always on the lips and makes it a means 
for obstructive agitation, and ostentatiously clings to its letter 
while it is weakening the defence of its very existence ; — 
if I must choose between this and that other defence of 
the Constitution which would preserve its vital principles, 
and the allegiance due to it, even at the cost of some 
violation of the letter, I should not choose the former. I 
would not save the body at the expense of the soul. 

Some of the "Defenders of the Constitution" of the 
present day, use with much emphasis the phrase, " The 
Constitution makes us a nation." It suits my way of 
thinking better to say, our nationality made the Constitu- 
tion. " We, the people of the United States," determined 
to become a nation. By our agents we determined also 
upon the principles and the forms which shoidd manifest 



SLAVERY. 23 

f)ur nationality to ourselves and to the world, and pfovern ns 
in all the woikin;! of our national lite. These principles 
and f'onns are expressed in the Constitution. I am willing 
to say almost anything of it, excepting that it makes our 
nationality. The Con>titution proves our nationality, de- 
fuies it, expresses it, guards it, protects it, hut dots vot 
make it. 1 can sympathize heartily, with any defence of 
our Constitutiou which seems to me honest and rational. It 
may be honest and rational, although I do not think so. 
But if it does not seem so to me, I cannot sympathize 
with it. 

1 can discern no limits to a nation's right of 
self-salvalifni. A man may save his own life hy any 
eflbrt or any means, not prohibited by the laws of (Jod 
even in that extremity. 1 am sure that this right, and 
this diity, btdong e(|ually to a nation. 

Success then I hoj)e for. Success in retaining our 
nati<»naliiy. Siuvcss in pn-scrving ll»e lite of our Consti- 
tulion And I also ho|»e tor success against shivi-ry, be- 
cause this is invidvcil in ili«- preservation of our nationality 
and our Constitulion. 

W(»uld that I were able to impress my convictions (»n 
this last |)oinl, U)>on the conimunily. A mistake in rela- 
tion to it seems to nu' to l)e d«»ing great mischief. 

The divisions of opinion whi<'li weaken our efforts may 
be redu<*ed into two classes. 1 will designate them, tor 
my own couNcnience. as the anti-.-lavery party, and the 
(tjiposiiion party ; althotigh each of the parties of whom I 
>\ould speak inehhles tho>e ^^ horn iIu-m- N\ords would not 
accuralely describe. I think the mistake they make is 
one. although it assumes two very different aspects. 

'I'he anii-sljivery |>arly believes it will aidvance its pur- 
po>rs by a ilin;ct allaek on slavery : they say, let us kill 
shiNery and rebellion will die. If tlu-y belie\ed as I do, 
that our latioiijilily and our ('<»ii««lilulion were the very 
best jiossible iusiriuutiits through which sla\ery mi^dit be 
a»aile<l Mild «\tir|>at»Ml. in the best tinu' and in the best 
way wha!e\ei- that may l>e. they mi;:hl adopt a diflerent 
c(»urse, 

'I'he ojipo>itii,ii \\<»ulil treat slavery tenderly, in hopes to 
adliue «»r entice the slave States back. They do not realize 



24 SLAVERY. 

that our national life has been, from its beginning, working 
against slavery. That, while it permitted slavery to ac- 
quire great extent and power, it built up the prosperity of 
the free States at a far greater rate, and strengthened the 
element of non-slavery against slavery, until the supremacy 
of the latter disappeared ; and that the slave States saw 
this clearly and perfectly ; saw and knew beyond all 
doubt or question, that slavery must die if it did not 
escape from the Union ; saw and knew that the hour had 
come when only the struggle was possible, because delay 
would make even the struggle impossible. They therefore 
sprang into rebellion ; and this day, they see and know, 
every man of tliem, that a return to the Union involves 
the decay and certain death of slavery before a very long 
time. Between this peril, and the chances of war, they 
chose, and must choose. They know, if we do not, that 
the public sentiment of this country will never permit such 
immunities and securities for slavery as would give it en- 
during vitality and permanent power, even if such were 
possible, which I do not believe. The opposition party de- 
ceive themselves if they think they can bring back the slave 
States by any other means whatever than by making the 
chances of war valueless to them. And yet it is this very 
opposition, and the division in our counsels and our con- 
duct that it produces, which alone give to the rebels all 
the hope they have, all the chance they have. For if they 
have any hope now of foreign intervention, they know, if 
we do not, that it is this division alone, which will make 
intervention possible. 

I think our government makes a mistake allied to this. 
The President knows that there is a divided sentiment in 
the country, and that we can only succeed by bringing the 
whole strength of the loyal States to bear on the rebellion. 
And he labors, honestly and earnestly, to reconcile, or at 
least combine, the two great parties which he recognizes. 
His mistake is, not to recognize, and not to throw himself 
upon, a much stronger party. 

Each of these parties desires and demands that the rebel- 
lion shall be put down, in its oion way. The great mass 
of the people desire and demand only that the rebellion 
BE PUT DOWN. A year ago this great party comprehended 



SLAVERY. 25 

almost everybody. Now, tlic anti-slavery party have per- 
suaded many that tlic rebelliou cau be put down only by 
direct assault upon slavery. The opposition have per- 
suaded many that it can be put down only by treating 
slavery tenderly, liut I believe the «:reat mass of the 
jKHjple stands where it stood. If Abraham Lincoln, in 
whose absolute honesty of j)urpose every one has conH<lence, 
and as to whose capacity doubts have arisen only from his 
seeming vacillati<»u, wouhl adopt and (leclarr his own 
policy^ his own metho<l of jiutting down tlu- rt!»eliion, on no 
other ground and with no other thought and no otiier motive 
whatever, than that ho verily believed it to be the best way 
to Slitukss tiik Kk»klm<»N, he would funl himself at 
• Mice at the head of tiiis great party, the j)eople. Then, 
they would be glad to see him carry out this policy 
vigorously and unrelentingly, destroy what he might, 
«jr save what he might. They would not be led away 
from him by tl»e outcries of the lea«lers of any par- 
ties, or of all parties. If he removi-d fr»>m olhce, civil 
or military, every man whom he has a right U) dis- 
miss, an<l who wonld not act energetically and cordially 
in «-arrying out hi.s poli<'y ; and it lie would throw the 
u hob; force of the govermneut into it, without hindrance, 
stojt, «»r >lay, the jteople \\(»uld go wilii iiiiii. 

A few days since I had this c<Miversation with a most 
exjelh'ut and inlellig«'ut lady. She said to me, — 

*' Do vou n«»t expeet that llii'^ war u ill be the death of 
slavery?" 

1 answerid, '* I have no o|)iuion ab«»ul thai." 

'• Hut do y(»u Mot hate .sla\er\ "'" 

'* Ves, as much as 1 «-an." 

"Do vou not lK'lie\e ( mmI IkiI. , > .i- iii,,- ii ..- \ ...i 

do?" 

'• Infmilely nioii-.*' 

"Then, if you do not believe that this wjir will |iut an 
end t«» slavery, you must laek faith in Providence; either 
that III' th»es not jiate slavery as it shoidd be hated ; or 
that His imp»'rfeet wisdom ilms n«»t tell Ilim how to ex- 
tirpate it ; or thait His power is ina»le«puile to the work 

He would ilo." 



26 SLAVERY. 

I replied, " I hope my ansAver will not offend you ; but, 
perhaps the difference between us may be, not that I have 
less faith in God, but less faith in myself, less faith in the 
purity of my motives, in the accuracy of my perceptions, 
in my judgment as to what is best, and as to the best 
means of accomplishing the best results." 

Slavery has been permitted to exist almost always and 
almost everywhere, as technical, or absolute slavery. But 
against it Christianity strove from the beginning ; or, as I 
should say, our Father worked tlirough Christianity to lead 
men aAvay from it. How much is signified by the little fact, 
that in the year 321 the Edict of Constantine, which estab- 
lished the worship of the Lord's day, by prohibiting on that 
day, and for that purpose, the sitting of tlie courts and all 
judicial proceeding, makes one exception. It is, in favor 
of the proceedings by which a slave was formally made 
free. So has Christianity ever worked against Slavery, 
with great and continued success ; not yet witli entire 
success. But it is certain that if Christianity does not 
ultimately succeed in conquering slavery, slavery Avill 
succeed in conquering Christianity ; for their essential 
antagonism is eternal. I am sure that Christianity will 
ultimately conquer slavery. But by what means, by what 
steps, or at what rate of progress, Christianity will ad- 
vance in its conquest of slavery, — that I do not know. 

It certainly seems to me probable th t slavery must 
be materially weakened by this conflict and its results. 
It seems to me possible, and not improbable, that it 
may receive a wound that is obviously fatal, and be 
brought near to inevitable death. It seems to me pos- 
sible, but not probable, that it may utterly perish, and 
once for all disappear from this whole country to be seen 
here no more. 

I know, certainly, only this. It is now our duty, the 
most absolute duty of all in the free States, to fight. To 
fight against Rebellion. To fight against it by every 
weapon we can use, Avhether it be forged of steel, or 
impelled by fire ; or only by words winged with the fire of 
loyalty to God and to our country ; or only by thoughts 
and feelings which find no utterance. Fight against the 
serried ranks of Rebellion if our place be there ; fight 



SLAVF.RY. 27 

ajrain>t tlio error? or maH/.niitie.^ wliicli sympathize with 
Kehellioii if our plaee he at liome ; ti;flit. even in our own 
hearts, a.L'ainst prejudices, or passions, or interests, or 
liahits, or hatreds, whicli, not intentionally or conseiously, 
hut in tact, paralyze our etl'orts, streuirtheu and envenom 
(ini- di--»ii-ion-. and L''ive aid ami comtort to lu-hrllion. 



Slavery is eompatihlf wiili nuitli excellence of hraii and 
character an<l c(»Mdnct. I ha\e no douht whatevrr, that 
th(!rc are many slaveholders who are kind and just men. 
That they heartily acknowled;.'e their duty to their slaves, 
ami endeavor conscientiously to «lischar^'e their duty. But 
whert'Vi-r this ^roodiiess exi-fts within slavery it must he 
exceptional. Jt must exist, not he<-ause r)f slavery, hut in 
•Icspite <»f it. And I supjM)^' that sucli sla\e-owuers are 
not anion*: lh(»se wiio ludievt- that >laverv is essentially a 
fjood thin;:, and who love slavery. Because it s»'«'ms to 
me this love can have no other ori;:in than the love of 
dominion and uuislfry, ^jnauidrd in pure sidlishness. 

So also, as I admit that compulsion is ^'ood whih- there i«< 
an imnuiturity vhich dcnuuids it, slavehohK-rs will tell me 
that tiie ne^M'o race is mcapahle of nniturity ; and there- 
fore the hrst thin;; for it is and will always he thi- ;:uidance 
and ;:uardianship and protection of sla\ery. This I do 
not hilieve. I lay aside all incpiiry into the ori;:in of the 
ne;:ro, or into the dillirences whi<di separate him from the 
Avliitc num. I am sure of this ; he has, or is cajiahle of 
havin;: hunuiu atlections and hunum thou;:hts. He is 
therefore a Man. And therefore he is or mav he«-om«' 
something: which shctuld not he a slave. 

I havi' repeatedly sjtoken of slavery as existing: technically 
and a\owedly, an«l as the ahsolute ownership (»f a nuiu hv 
a man ; and then we call it slavery. And as also existin;^ 
in its elements ami its essence when\er a ri;:ht exists ot' 
loerciuL' a man to lahor for another in any way, without his 
own ronsent and concurrence. This may he called c«)m- 
pulsitMi. I will not in.-ist that it he called imperfect. 



28 SLAVERY. 

modified, disguised slavery, because T might then use 
a word which may impart to the tiling itself, a character 
which does not belong to it. I will call it compulsion. 

It is very possible to see the deformity of slavery, when 
it is undisguised, and to hate what is thus seen, and all 
the w^hile to love and cling to that right of compulsion 
which is similar in essence. To illustrate my meaning, 
I will go again to England. There, hatred of slavery has 
appeared to be dominant and zealous, and it has certainly 
been eloquent with some and vociferous with many. But 
our civil war has applied a touchstone to the Euglisli hatred 
of slavery. It has brought it into conflict with the interests, 
the prejudices, the jealousies and the fears of the ruling 
classes. In all conflicts it is the weakest party which yields ; 
and in this conflict, the hatred of slavery appears to have 
yielded in the minds of these classes. The reason seems 
to me plain enough ; because the fact seems to me certain, 
that, while technical slavery has no existence in England, 
and while every Englishman rejoices in the boast that if a 
slave stands upon English soil his chains fall from him, 
the very essential principle of slavery exists and operates 
in England, and has great favor there. What I mean is, 
that the South, and tlie whole Southern mind and charac- 
ter, are not more permeated and dominjited by the principle 
of Slavery, tlian the English mind is permeated and dom- 
inated by the principle of Servility. 

The cement which holds the fabric of English society 
together, is Servility. An Englishman looks upon those 
higher than himself in class-position, with a humility and 
subservience, that to a stranger who sees it or reads of it, 
is cither disgusting, or amazing, or amusing. But he 
looks down on those below him in class-position, and 
demands and receives the same humility and subservience. 
We read of the castes in India, and wonder at them. 
But in England the noble fiimilies are far above the un- 
titled in all social arrangements. The landed gentry will 
not meet on equal terms with the merchant. And the 
merchant looks down with the same self-complacency upon 
the retail trader. A shopkeeper would be a phenom- 
enon in a great house, if he had not been sent for to 
exhibit his wares. And all look down, alike, upon their 



SLAVERY. 29 

servauts. It is true the question of wealth rims through 
all this, because now, in England, mere wealth, however 
come by, gives a spurious kind of rank, which some 
acknowledge and some do not. 

Wlicn chemists speak of a substance differing from an- 
other in tliat one of its many elements is changed for anotlar 
which occupies precisely its place and enters into all its 
relations, tlifv say the new element has rfplarnj the former. 
It is precisely in this sense, that I say the Servility of Eng- 
hiUil i-rjflans the Slavery of our Southern States. Eor 
servility enters into the relations of English society, and 
affi'cls tiie various classes of the nation, with a close 
anjil(»gy to the place and iutluencc of slavery in tlie 
South."^ 

For example, no one would say that the four millions of 
shives love slavery. There are slave-owners who say it, 
but they do not tliink it, and cannot expect any person to 
suppose that they believe it. And yet slavery nuist have 
alfecled tlie min«ls of these millions. Many of them <loubt- 
less value the protect i(»n, the foo*! and shelter it gi\»'S 
them ; and they drea<l tiic consequences of any agitation 
for frce<lom. 

So, in England, more than as many millions are uit* riy 
wi(hout voice or vote or political rights, and are notliing 
more than tlie producers «>f wealth for the residue, U>v 
wages whi<'li only sustain life. 'I'liey caiuiot l«»ve the in- 
stitutions which i»riiig upon them this <M»n>tant (legra<lalion 
and frequent sullering. liul they are accu>*tomed to their 
condition. Tiiey know not how oilierw isc to gel the means 
<)f even liNing. Ami they fear change, for they lia\c lost 
the capa«-ity of htiping ft»r anything better. 

\\\' supposed that the negroes would move in some way 
in furtherance of their «leliverance. I did not expect 
insurrection ; I t\\i\ not desire it, nor do I know any per- 
son who did desire it. liut I supposi d that a movement 
like that which has actually taken place in some parts of 
tiie slave regi<»n, would have become, by this time, general. 
It is, in substance, a ivfusal of the slaves to work unless 
for wages and on terms agreeil uj)r»n. Such a movement 
would have been a fearful calamity for the Rebels. The 
negroes couM not have been coerced without tin; aiil of 



30 SLAVERY. 

soldiers who could not be spared from their armies. And 
a compliance with their demands would have struck at 
the heart of slavery. But the slaves have not moved. 

So it is often said that England is " on a volcano," and 
that her laborers and her poor must rise up and seize the 
first opportunity of breaking their bondage. I do not 
believe they would. What keeps the slaves quiet, would 
keep them quiet. Fear and habit have great' power. 

Again. In the South the slave-owners are not all of 
one mind. Some among them, certainly, dislike " the 
peculiar institution." They consider it as fastened upon 
them, and know not how to cast it off without utter ruin. 
But they would be glad to have it mitigated, and im- 
proved, or removed if possible. So in England, of the 
governing classes there are some, we know, and more, we 
suppose, who do not believe that civilization demands that 
the exuberant wealth of a few should co-exist with the 
enormous mass of misery, destitution and degradation 
festering at the base of English society. Nor do these 
persons love the Servility which characterizes their coun- 
try. They wish, some of them act, for the mitigation 
and improvement of this state of things. But they look 
upon this evil as fastened upon them, and so rooted in the 
whole fabric of English society, that it could not be taken 
away without bringing the fabric itself to ruin. 

Again. Russell's Diary gives us conclusive evidence, 
that the leading conspirators of the South desire, earn- 
estly desire, a monarchy. And slavery must desire a 
monarchy. The very nature of the case makes it certain, 
that if slavery should ever become the acknowledged "cor- 
ner-stone," as Mr. Vice-President Stephens calls it, of a 
State, at its summit there must stand, whatever title he 
may bear, a despot. But servility, which is only modified 
slavery, differs from slavery, which is intensified servility, 
in this. It does not require a despot. Less will satisfy its 
needs. Hence England requires and has a " constitutional 
monarch." 

What does this phrase practically mean? The king 
(or queen) of England reigns on condition that he will 
not govern nor attempt to govern. Queen Victoria has 
less political power than any one of her most prominent 



SLAVERY. 31 

and iiifluontial suhjectr^. Indeed she has none. It is the 
universally recoirnized proof of her sairacity and her fit- 
ness for her i>lace, that she abstains from any interference 
with the jrovernment of the country. While I Avrite, the 
'' London Times," which speaks for and to the aristocracy of 
Kn^dand, inculcates, somewhat rudely, the same abstinence 
u|)on the Prince of Wales. Where then is the actual power 
of the State, for it must be somewhere? It is in the hands 
of an aristocracy, wlio are the possessors of unquestioned 
power, and are, of late years, bcfjinning to cast oft' their dis- 
;ruise. This aristocracy is, partly an aristocracy of rank, 
and partly an aristocracy of wealth. Keen observers say 
lliat the last is «:ainin;r on the first, and getting the mas- 
ter}'. It is dilfK'ult to say how this is, l)ecause they work 
with so much harmony. The aristocracy of rank seeks to 
bring wealth within its '* order," by marrying the pos- 
sessors of wealth, or ennobling them. The aristocracy of 
wealth seeks to add the advantage of rank, by marriage 
alliaiK-es, or by getting titles. 15ut considering them as 
one, this aristocracy is the absolute nuister of Kngland ; 
more absoluti'ly it.s master, than I»uis Napoleon is of 
Fraiif-e, or Al»'xan<ler is of Hiissia. Tlu' aristocracy ap- 
fioints and sustains and directs the ministers. The IVimc 
.Minister is their chief ser\ant. The C^ueeii, who calls 
these ministers her servants, is lait the servant of tluMr 
masters. An<l this is in p»-rfect harmony with Knglish 
institutions and Knglish character. I^vtTything in that 
nation depeu<ls upon <'hiss distinctions and class rights; 
and it is necessary tluit the highest class should be the 
master of the rest. 

A Constitution is a supreme law alike (»bligatory upon 
tlu! Kxecutive, the Legislative, and the .lu<licial de|)art- 
ments, and u|M»n the whole ]»eoj)le ; to be \ if^lated by 
none, and to Ite changed only by common consent. ( )l" 
this, or anything like this, they ha\e absohitely nothing in 
Kngland. l*arliament, whi<-h is controlled by the aris- 
tocracy, may enact what law it will. The veto-power of 
the king ha^ been abandoned lor many reigns and many 
generations, and is dead. Whatever Parliament enacts, 
every executive ollicer, every nuigistrate, every judge, and 
evi-ry sid'juct. Ml ST regard as law and obey as law. The 



OZ SLAVERY. 

"Constitutional King of England" is therefore a king 
who reigns on condition that he will be only a pageant 
and not a king, and whose kingdom is utterly destitute of 
a Constitution. 

All this is perfectly consistent with a vast amount of 
moral worth, with individual and national energy, and 
with all the splendor and grace which intellectual ability 
and culture of the highest order can impart. All these 
are there, abundantly and certainly. I do not doubt in the 
least that all are there ; I am only endeavoring to state 
and illustrate the principle which runs through them all. 
Our fatliers were Englishmen. They brought with them 
English blood and character, — although not then precisely 
such as these are now. I cannot enlarge upon this diifer- 
ence, nor consider the modifications these elements of char- 
acter must have undergone while more than six generations 
have lived and died under circumstances very different 
from those of the English people. But we remained her 
colonies, and politically a part of England, until we won 
our Independence. Since then we have not been politically 
her colonies. But we have stood in what was very near to 
a colonial relation and dependence in other respects. Her 
mind and lier manners and usages and judgments about 
men and things have influenced ours in a degree and in a 
Avay that few of us have been aware of. I certainly was 
not. Tlierefore I consider this war a second war of In- 
dependence. That chain is broken, at all events ; and its 
links can never be welded together. I hope that the anger 
Avhich now exists may pass away, and be succeeded by 
kindness ; and I hope we shall learn to make due allowance 
for the governments of Europe. The growth and pros- 
perity of a nation founded upon Consent must be a con- 
stant menace, and an ever-growing peril for institutions 
founded upon Compulsion. If our institutions attract to 
us the sympathies of the governed classes, so much the more 
must they repel the governing classes. We should indeed 
ask of these governing classes to be more than human, if 
we ask them not to look upon our institutions with dislike, 
our prosperity with jealousy and fear, our perils with hope, 
and our decay — if that shall come — with rejoicing. 

Let us be just to the aristocracy of England. Their 



SLA^-ERY. 33 

liostilify to tho free States and their sympathy with tlio 
shive States, astoiiishetl, grieved and aiiirered us. But 
l»'l us not tur^ret that the suppression of tlie rebellion and 
the restoration of our prosperity under a constitutional 
;ioverinnent, would be, for that aristocracy, a peril, only 
less, if less, than the rebellion itself is for the United 
States. 

I hope this war will conijjk-te our independence of Enir- 
land. For with the most sincere acknowledgment of great 
and various excellence in tlie English character, 1 am 
<piite sure that lier influence luus been, on some important 
jtoints, rpiite injurious to us. 

Si'rvility includes the two i<leas of the sentiment servility 
on the part of tliose who look up. and the love of servility 
on tin; part of those who look down. Ami no doubt wt* 
have imported a g<M»d deal of servility from Knglaiul. Of 
tiic love of servility in tluise who look tlown, 1 fear we 
are not (piite ri<l yet. We <lo not all cordially accept the 
j»riuciples oi" Ameri<*an institutions as those under which 
we must live, whether we like them or not, as long as wo 
live here. J lear that some f»f us subject ourselves to 
much discomfort, in the vain «'llbrt to establish for our- 
stlv<*s and our households, habits and relations which we 
can n<» more import from England than we can iuj|K»rt 
h«r <*linuite. I have JM-eu anuised to see soui«' jiersous 
trying to live, a.s to their habits of food and clothing and 
exercise an«l exposure, as they do in England, and hrcnusr 
they do s(j in Enghmd. This is of no great consecpieiKu;. 
More mischief <*omes from the endeavor to insist upon 
English relations, where the etfort can prcwluce only <-ou- 
tinual irritation. ('Iass-ri;:ht"< cannot flourish hen*. If 
one of Mjy readers happens to know a man who seeks to 
treat all within his reach as his servants, and all his 
servants as slaves, I am sure he knows a very unc«)nifort- 
able num. 

From the ser\dity which look^^ up, we are pn-lty well 
rid. We see it seldoui, exc»'j)t in new-comers, who 
broujrht the habit with them, and have not yet learned 
their Anu'ri<'an lessun-^. HiU they learn these lessons 
\ery soon. I'erhaps they do uot learn, jwrhaps they come 
to a xho.il will re it niiudit. at jiresent, be dillii iilt to I. am. 



34 SLAVERY. 

what should take the place of servility when that passes 
away. The best lover of his country will hope that it may 
pass away. But he will also hope that as it passes away, a 
recognition of the rights of others, fidelity to duty, the 
love of usefulness, and courtesy and kindness and civility 
will take the place of servility. 

Some at home, and more who visit us, complain of the 
manners of this country. So far as I can judge, our 
manners are, in the main, good. It is not fair nor rea- 
sonable to apply to them the standards of foreign usages 
or of factitious refinement. The true test is, are they, in 
o^eneral, expressive of a courteous and kind feeling. I 
think they are. We meet sometimes with coarseness and 
rudeness ; but equally in all classes of society ; and in 
every class it seems to me an exception, and not the 
rule. 

But I am not so well contented with another charac- 
teristic of our country. It is the feebleness of the 
sentiments of Respect and Reverence. It is difficult 
to speak aright of these topics, and perhaps I ought 
to distrust my own conclusions. I will only say that I 
should be glad to see my fellow-citizens treat each other 
with more Respect ; and manifest more respect for many 
things, and among them, for place, office, function. These 
exist only for the good of society. This is their end, 
however imperfectly it be attained, and however it may 
be concealed or obstructed by self-seeking and self-love in 
all their various forms. But it is certain that this end 
must be imperfectly attained, if the rights which belong 
to them are not honestly acknowledged and Respected. 

And so as to Reverence. Of this I would say even less. 
But the common consent of all times has ever declared 
that age should be held in Reverence ; tliat the paternal 
relation should be held in Reverence. I will only ask is a 
sentiment of this kind very strong and general among us ; 
is it stronger in this generation than in the preceding ; 
was it stronger in that than in its predecessor ? I will let 
others answer. I fear some may answer, it is not strong, 
and that is well. It is growing weaker, and that too is 
well. 

But all the Reverence I have spoken of is nothing, in 



SLAVEKY. 



35 



comi)ari>on with the Reverence which is due to God. I 
do not fear an avowal that this Reverence also is a poor 
and foolish thing ; but I do fear, that in point of fact, it 
is, in general, a feeble sentiment. 

We live in an age of marvellous prosperity ; of an ac- 
tivity of the human intellect and an energy of hunum 
action, and a perpetual progress in discoveries and in util- 
izing discoveries, which has had no preccMlent in history. 
Hut it is also a characteristic of the age. that the idea of God 
]ia«; quite too little distinctness and force in any of the de- 
jtartnu-nts of human thought ; and, most of all has this idt-a 
(lisapj)eared from politics. Tliis word seems to uwnu at tlie 
higliest, oidy a regard for the mere mati'rial inten-sts of 
men ; and, at the lowest, gambling with the min<ls and 
jtMssions of men for the cards, and public f)llice or tlie 
pulilic purse for the stakes. Tliis condition of things srems 
to me likt' one where the Sun is darkened ; a condition in 
which then- is no light from above, an«l no light but that 
of the lamps we uuike, and kindle and feed witli our own 
bauds ; a c<»ndition, whi<-li gives us little rea-on i(» jiopc 
fitr mncli wixlom of opinion, conclusion or a<ti|Mi. 

\Vi r.- I to permit myself to dwell on tliis subject, it 
would be with esj)ecial reference to the godlessuess of that 
spirit of reform, which is so powerful among us. How many 
good !iud earnest men I know now active in their conflicts 
w itii the <li'mon of Iutem|HM*ance, and the worse demon of 
lgiiorau<v, and, to bring the nuitter nearer to my specilic 
topic, with Slavery itself. Do they seem, geuerally, to 
walk au«l work in the light of the Irutii that if their 
work be a g«MMl work, it must be (ioiTs work ; and that 
if they would work witii Him, they nujst work as His 
instruments, and in His own way? This couviclion 
would K'ave them zealous to be His in.-trtmu'Uts ; to do 
His work ; to hasten the time : to open the way. IJut it 
would cause, I think, a great change in the maimer of 
their working. How nuich more <'autious would their 
conduct be; how much kinder tlieir w<»rds : how iniicli 
less hatred would their words express ami excite; how 
much more, and how much better, would be their success. 

This characteristic of the times seems to me more sad, 
and more alarming, because never yet was there so much 



36 SLAVERY. 

need of the recognition of God, as at this day, among us. 
What else can have power to quell the raging storm and 
bid the heaving sea of passion be still, before it wrecks the 
best hopes of our country, and of our race. 

I will not permit myself to pursue this topic. I will 
say only, for the few, if there be indeed any, who would 
follow out this train of thought in their own minds, that, 
in my judgment, constitutional Republicanism cannot enter 
upon its completion and consummation, until it becomes a 
Theocracy ; and that it is not, in very fact and deed, ad- 
vancing towards its completion, when it is not advancing 
towards this end. Let not those who are startled by this 
word suppose I mean a restoration of the old Jewish 
Theocracy. In the Theocracy I desire, the altar will not 
be built with hands, but will be in the heart ; the offerings 
will be of acknowledgment, obedience, and reverence, 
and love. The House of God to which we shall go up, to 
worship our Father and listen to His answers, will be His 
Word, in wiiich He dwells forever. 

And what of the conflict, which I began with saying 
was in some Avay caused by slavery ? How will it end, 
and when will it end ? 

I do not deny that there is much which would lead me 
to fear that vices and falsities prevail among us, and arc 
so indurated by time and habit and our past prosperity, 
that we may need a long period of distress and discipline, 
and may now be only entering upon a cycle of suifering, 
Avhich in its intensity and in its length will equal the 
years of our prosperity. 

But my hope ii stronger than my fear. I think I see 
much among us that is good, and that is earnestly seek- 
ing to be better. Much that shows, that if we have 
abused our prosperity in part, we have also, in part, 
used it for our own good and for the world's good. And 
then I believe that we shall succeed. That Rebellion 
Avill be suppressed ; that the value and force of our Con- 
stitution will be proved ; that our loyalty will be en- 
lightened and invigorated ; and that by all these means, 
a firm foimdation may be laid for a wider and loftier 
prosperity than we have yet known. 



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